Life, blackjack and beyond.

Vegas: June 2016 Day 1

June 16, 2016

So I took what’s called the “Super shuttle” from my home to the airport. Aside from the driver, there was a lady who graduated High School with Methuselah in the shuttle bus. Along the way, she regaled me with stories of her youth,although I could not look her in the eyes as she was wearing a pair of those wrap around sunglasses – trés chic.

Upon arriving at her terminal, she could not understand where to go to check into her flight. The driver and I attempted to direct her as best we could but, the police were yelling at the driver to “keep it moving, pal”.

I was then dropped off and was through security in a breeze.

As usual, I checked out the duty-free liquor shop and came across this gem:

I then got comfy and awaited the announcement to board:

The flight was uneventful although for the last 15 minutes of the flight, a classless guy a few rows away decided he would start making calls on his cell phone while also smoking an electronic cigarette – he did this with no repercussions from any of the flight crew.

Landed in LV!

I grabbed a Lyft to and checked in at the Monte Carlo:

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I then went for a walk down the Strip, checking out the shops at Bellagio and the Forum Shops, ultimately, picking up a new pair of shoes at Armani.

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As you may or may not know, I have been dealing with issues of IBS and colitis. As I am always willing to try an alternative remedy, I began doing research and discovered that nicotine can serve to inhibit the symptoms of these diseases. As such, I have been trying very low dose vaping, which is the inhalation of nicotine through a vaporizer. I am still getting the hang of it but, after only a few days trying it, I have noticed a sight improvement in symptoms. Therefore, on the walk back, stopped at the Vape Kings shop at Bally’s Bazzaar to check out some vape flavors and decided to try out watermelon:

I also stopped into CVS for multi and varied sundries and came across a very cool bottle of organic vodka (made in Hawai’i) – it reminded me of this emoji ⚗

I finally made it back to the room and, in the middle of my nap, there was a knock on the door…

I asked “Who is it?” and a young lady replied “You know who it is”. As I had no idea who it was, I looked through the door peephole and saw a young lady of about 21 standing there.Still in a daze from my nap, I opened the door (not thinking that there could be someone waiting to the side with a sock full of pennies (Seinfeld reverse peephole episode reference) and she asked me why I was in the room – I told her it was my room – she then giggled and ran down the hall. Who knows?
I then got up and ready to play some blackjack:

As Monte Carlo only has H17 tables, even in high limit, I made my way over to the Aria.

I only won 4 hands in the first 30 minutes playing and then decided to move to a different pit being down 2500.

Within one half shoe, I was back to even.

I took a dinner break and resumed play.

The first table I was at was a roller coaster and I was never above/below plus or minus 500.

Then, a Dominican guy joined in mid shoe and wondered what I was doing when I surrendered a 10,6 V dealer Ace. The dealer informed him, on my behalf, that I had Surrendered one half my bet. The guy responded that he never heard of it and they don’t play that way “at home”. Of course, he then got three blackjacks Ina row and thanked me for surrendering (as if I had some foreknowledge that my surfed wrong would allow him to be dealt three blackjacks in a row).

He left and was replaced by two Asian gentlemen who alluded rather bizarrely, the “highlights” being:

second guy doubling 2,4 v dealer 9

first guy hitting 13 against dealer 5

They then questioned my surrender and I deemed it time to leave.

I switched tables and proceeded to get my ass beat, losing 2k over the course of three shuffles of double deck.

A floor person I’m friendly with told me to “quit whining” – I told her I’ll get her written up and we both laughed.

I then moved to a 6D game and a nice gentleman and his wife joined me. They were rooting for me to get back to even but they started adjusting their play so as to not “take any cards” I might need. I told them that unless they had X-ray vision, they could not know the exact next card coming out from the shoe and they should not worry about me and just play their game. This fell on deaf ears as they wanted to “help” me. He decided not to hit a soft 17 (Ace,5,Ace) because he wanted me to get the 10 he thought was coming up next. Naturally, a 4 came out next (to me) then a 10 which busted me. Had he hit, he would’ve had a 21 and I would’ve had a 19, with both of us beating the dealer’s 18.

Despite that setback, I was able to get to within $50 of even and called it a night.